RSnake Report 20260913

Houthis take Straight of Bab el-Mandeb, Trump offers $5k to elect Republicans, etc.

September 14, 2026

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Hello, and thanks for reading! I don't have a ton of time to write this one today, and instead of holding back, I wanted to get some of this news out immediately, so I won't be adding much narrative to get this out tonight. Oh, and if you want to see what I have been up to lately, you can check out this podcast I did with Down the Security Rabbithole where we discuss the issues with the idea that AI has collapsed the time to exploit for zero-day exploits. It turns out when you use better data it actually proves the opposite.

In Russia/Ukraine News, Ukrainian aerial and naval drones struck Sochi overnight, with Russian air defenses engaging targets and activity reported at the waterfront. The attacks follow a pattern of repeated strikes on the resort town that has hosted the 2014 Winter Olympics. Sochi continues to experience ongoing drone activity as Ukrainian technology matures. NOELREPORTS 🇪🇺 🇺🇦

Drones hit an 85,000-square-meter logistics complex in Saratov along with Rosneft and Lukoil refineries in Saratov and Volgograd regions. Fires broke out at multiple sites and the Azot chemical plant in Berezniki was struck. Eleven airports from Saratov to Gelendzhik suspended operations while an explosion was reported in Kaspiysk and a warehouse was targeted in occupied Shakhtarsk. Anton Gerashchenko

The Ukrainian Navy reported the first-ever battle between unmanned sea drones in the Black Sea, where a Sargan 3000 USV sank a Russian counterpart. Ukrainian naval forces, using Neptune missiles, struck the frigate Admiral Essen and other targets. Onboard footage shows a Ukrainian drone evading machine-gun fire before striking the tanker Armada Leader.

Ukrainian counter-attacks have collapsed the Russian salient between the Nitrius and Zherebets rivers, pushing Russian forces off the west bank of the Nitrius. Chuck Pfarrer | Indications & Warnings |

Chuck Pfarrer | Indications & Warnings |

After 4 months of the Lyman counter-attack, Ukraine's 3rd Army Corps managed to cut a Russian salient north of Lyman and liberate more than 200 km2 liberate more than 200 km2. This is one of the most important victories for Ukraine in 2026 which will delay the offensive on northern Donbas. Clément Molin

Ukrainian crews have deployed a new air-defense system derived from the Stugna-P anti-tank missile, expanding its use against aerial targets. Inserted media

Many Russian gas stations are now selling only diesel amid shortages. President Trump stated that Ukraine must stop striking Russian fuel infrastructure to ease the diesel shortage. Janis Kluge

EIA data showed 11.59 million barrels per day offline in August. This pretty much says to me that Trump's statements about the oil cost being mostly Ukraine's fault is at best a partial truth. Giovanni Staunovo🛢

New jet-powered Geran-4 and Geran-5 drones significantly outperform previous models and are changing the course of the air war, the FT reports significantly outperform previous models. Ukraine intercepts only about 60% of these jet-powered UAVs, compared to 90–95% of other types of aerial targets. The latest Geran-5 reaches speeds of up to 600 km/h, carries a warhead weighing up to 90 kg, and has a range of around 1,000 km. Modern versions are equipped with thermal imaging cameras, automatic targeting systems, Russian jam-resistant antennas, and Chinese mesh-network modems.

Satellite imagery shows thick smoke covering part of the Slavyansk-EKO oil refinery after the overnight Ukrainian drone attack on the tank farm thick smoke covering part of the Slavyansk-EKO oil refinery. Ukraine struck Russia's Novy Urengoy in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, with a confirmed 3,300-kilometer flight path, making this the deepest Ukrainian strike of the war deepest Ukrainian strike of the war. The target appears to be Gazprom's local condensate plant, a major link in the infrastructure that turns hydrocarbons extracted across Yamal into usable products. NOELREPORTS 🇪🇺 🇺🇦

Russia launched a massive Geran-2 attack against western Ukraine under a thick cloud cover massive Geran-2 attack against western Ukraine. More than 863 were launched, of which 741 were downed, leaving more than 122 impacts. At least 5 gas stations, 2 trains, and 1 electric substation have been confirmed as hit. Some drones managed to reach the Polish border, with at least two hits confirmed on the Yagodin border crossing. It is absolutely insane what Ukraine has been dealing with recently, with this many munitions hitting daily this many munitions every day. Clément Molin

The IEA confirms that the 40% collapse in Russian oil refining will last at least another 18 months in the most optimistic scenario, if Ukraine does not hit more refineries 40% collapse in Russian oil refining. Ukraine is hitting multiple refineries daily. Jay in Kyiv

The situation has improved in some cities, while long queues remain in others, currently worsening in St. Petersburg and in Nizhny Novgorod long queues remain in others. Janis Kluge

In European News, Allied forces from the UK, Norway and the US tracked Russian submarines and deep-sea vehicles during spring drills near Svalbard and halted the exercise before any undersea cables were damaged. The disruption targeted GUGI’s new technology to disable fibre-optic links without leaving traces. The two 1,400 km cables run as deep as 2,700 metres and carry data from SvalSat, the world’s largest satellite ground station and part of NASA’s Near Space Network. Norwegian Defence Minister Tore Sandvik stated the joint action showed Russia that covert attacks on critical infrastructure would be detected and met with consequences. 🪖MilitaryNewsUA🇺🇦

European wholesale diesel refining premiums have exceeded $100 per barrel for the first time. Europeans pay 12.2 times as much as Americans for natural gas. The TTF gas price chart reflects the widening gap that followed the previous multiple of 8.6 times. Diesel prices in the United States have already exceeded $6 per gallon. Karel Mercx

German startup Ground A closed a €9.1 million pre-seed round in June led by Vsquared Ventures with participation from Quantum Systems, GRIF, Robin Capital, ABACON, Leblon Capital and OVNI Capital. The company plans its next financing round in 2027. Ground A is approaching market launch for the GA 1000 directed-energy weapon system after testing and validation. Looks a little like Wall-E doesn't it?

Nightmare Eclipse, the individual releasing Windows zero-days, has revealed himself as Abdelhamid Naceri, a former Microsoft employee. Naceri is suing Microsoft for unfair termination. The legal battle in Germany has cost him more than $200,000 after the company fought him in court and offered €55,000 plus a year’s pay to drop the case. He is now looking for a job, if you want to inherit that hot mess.

In South East Asia News, The China Travel Advisory was updated to include more information on risks to U.S. citizens surrounding Chinese arbitrary enforcement of local laws, surveillance, exit bans and unjust detention or arrest. The update follows earlier advisories and expands the list of potential hazards for travelers.

Five of the seven junta ships which managed to reach Bhamo last week were sunk by KIA/PDF drones on their way back to Shwegu. Resistance FPVs dominate the upper Irrawaddy. The ladies of the PDF drone units wiping out the fighter jets of one of the cruelest regimes in the world. Thomas van Linge

U.S. officials have linked high resolution satellite imagery obtained by Iran from Chinese entities to the July 17 Iranian missile strike on Muwaffaq al Salti Air Base in Jordan that killed three U.S. troops and wounded several others. Officials did not identify the Chinese entities or allege that the Chinese government was directly involved. Iran obtained imagery both before and after the attack. U.S. officials are also concerned Chinese assistance could be helping Iran track American naval forces.

Chinese state-owned Jilin Chemical Fiber Group shipped 46 tons of PAN precursor to Russia’s Alabuga-Volokno that makes carbon fiber for Russia's Shahed kamikaze drones. That is enough for 1,300 drones. China supply at over 60% of the components keeping Russia's military running. Tymofiy Mylovanov

There are no private companies in China. Chinese MSS have admin credentials to log in to “high profile technology companies” (eg TikTok, WeChat, etc). This is how they operate worldwide. joshua steinman (🇺🇸,🇺🇸)

Supertanker Rates Just Hit $800,000 A Day. The Baltic Exchange benchmark for a VLCC sailing the Middle East to China route has hit $800,000 a day, roughly 18 times a typical VLCC's normal earnings of about $45,000. A newly tracked Gulf of Oman to East Asia route is also up sharply, near $386,000 a day, 85% higher since that benchmark started. That means China is going to be hit a lot harder than they would like to pretend they are. Yes, this hurts the US but it's also strangling them as well. Jack Prandelli

In fact there is a rumor things are not nearly as rosy economically as it appears. This post pretty much paints the story that things are fragile at best for many normal Chinese citizens.

A Fable dataset was bought from one of the top Chinese LLM routers yesterday. With just 6TB data, access to over 7 Chinese/CIS gov entities and 19 top Chinese firms like Xiaomi, Huawei, NIO, Minimax using SSH keys, VPN configs, Aliyun keys, GitLab tokens sent to the router. Chaofan Shou

Manila acquired BrahMos anti-ship coastal missiles with a 300 mile range that can cover the Philippine EEZ and reach Scarborough Shoal. The procurement allows Philippine forces to address Chinese activity in the area. The Marines assisted Philippine armed forces with strike planning for the system. Good for them.

In Middle East News, The tanker Sidr, on which two seafarers lost their lives after an Iranian strike, is being towed by Greek-owned salvage tug Giant. The vessel is now under tow following the incident.

Multiple American military aircraft suffered damage in strikes overnight on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan. One A-10 Thunderbolt was struck and left with a missing wing, while roughly eight F-15s sustained light damage and were placed back into service. American forces in Jordan launched more than 30 Patriot missiles defending against the Iranian strikes. The overnight damage came after the US attacked five Iranian tankers in retaliation for Iran targeting a US Navy warship. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed they launched attacks at eight tankers and two warships, including the base in Jordan.

Pakistan turns down Saudi request to strike Houthis. Pakistan says the Mecca Pact of mutual defense does not cover a pre-existing condition and only applies to wars started after the pact was signed. The pact also covers only state actors, not non-state actors. Saudis will not ask Turkey, the third partner in the Mecca Pact, to intervene. Saudi Crown Prince MBS called President Trump twice Thursday, urging him to launch strikes against the Houthis as they made sweeping advances in Yemen. Trump declined the request.

Houthi advances seizing Hays, Al-Mokha and Al-Khokha after Saudi-backed forces withdrew are confirmed by Reuters, BBC and others. The claim that three full brigades mass-surrendered with weapons comes solely from Ansar Allah officials, and video shows large groups of fighters, but exact numbers and intact Saudi units lack independent verification.

Saudi and Iraqi officials both state the drones were launched from Maysan province in southeastern Iraq, which borders Iran. No group has publicly claimed the attack, and neither government has named a specific organization. Iraq’s prime minister dismissed the Maysan operations commander and opened an investigation after confirming the launch site, with security forces conducting searches in the province. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq denied involvement and called the accusations unproven.

Iran-backed Houthi rebels struck Saudi Aramco oil tanks at the Jizan refinery, bringing the total destroyed to fourteen since July. Saudi Arabia appealed for United States military intervention after the strikes, but the administration declined to take direct action. The urgent appeal followed Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and Riyadh’s disappointment with Turkey and Pakistan under the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement. C14 News | EN

Houthi forces captured the Red Sea port of Mocha after government troops withdrew. The seizure gives the Houthis control of the coastline and the ability to threaten shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb strait. Open Source Intel

Footage from Al Jazeera showed equipment left behind at the port of Mocha that Yemeni forces captured. This is pretty catastrophic if these are actually functional, because lots of these are armored vehicles that the Houthis can utilize to mobilize quick movements and even take direct small arms fire. The Houthis also seized Perim Island at the narrowest point of the strait. Reno

Satellite imagery revealed a massive smoke plume roughly 100 km long along Saudi Arabia's East-West Pipeline southeast of Medina. Heat signatures above 70 MW persisted for hours at multiple points, and ground-level photos showed the same black smoke column after Houthis struck the line at several locations. The pipeline normally moves 5 million barrels per day of export crude from the interior to the Red Sea terminal at Yanbu. Earlier this year an Iranian drone strike on the same corridor cut flows by 700,000 barrels per day for four days. The latest reports emerged while oil traded above 105 dollars per barrel. Clash Report

Houthi forces captured Mokha port and nearby islands along Yemen's Red Sea coast, consolidating positions around Bab al-Mandeb. The militia also announced seizure of advanced surveillance systems including French Thales CoastWatcher radars, German Hensoldt units, Israeli ELM-2226 sets, and submersible Blue Whale sensors. Government-aligned units withdrew inland, and the 45th Brigade reported entering Al-Sayl on the outskirts of Al-Hazm in Al-Jawf province. Analysts note the coastal gains may serve as a lure while fighting continues on routes toward Marib and Sanaa. Government forces retreated from the coastline after the Houthis seized Mokha. Institute for the Study of War

It's not all bad news though. Yemeni government forces have broken through Houthi defenses in Al Jawf and Marib, but Houthis seized Mocha and the island of Mayun, giving them control of the Bab al-Mandab Strait. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called Trump twice requesting help against the Houthis, but the White House refused, providing only intelligence support. Saudi Arabia's last oil exit is now in play as the Houthis advance toward Dhubab. According to Lebanese media citing US sources, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered military aid to form a coalition against the Houthis. Despite the seizure of Mocha and the islands, traffic is still traversing the Bab al-Mandab with no indication the Houthis are stopping ships beyond their blockade of Saudi vessels.

Houthi forces have withdrawn most troops from the Bab el-Mandeb Strait after sustained close air support denied the area. Government forces have not yet fully secured the territory but Yemeni Armed Forces made massive advancements into Houthi territory. So we shall see.

Footage shows an American Patriot SAM battery engaging a massive incoming salvo of Iranian ballistic missiles over Jordan earlier tonight. U.S. forces fired between sixty and one hundred Patriot interceptor missiles, mostly PAC-3 MSE variants, in a matter of minutes to counter Iranian attacks.

More and more Islamic Republic security forces are openly voicing economic despair as the crisis begins eating into the very apparatus the regime depends on for survival. A young Iranian police officer says his 26 million toman monthly salary, worth roughly $120, is no longer enough to survive, adding that if he cannot make ends meet, ordinary Iranians must be suffering far worse. Personnel who complain about crushing prices risk being branded terrorists, while wearing the uniform in public increasingly draws open hatred from Iranians.

Eleven hundred tons of explosives detonated under Ali Taher Ridge in southern Lebanon. Israel placed the explosives in the tunnels under the ridge and destroyed the underground infrastructure of the Hezbollah organization, completing the security zone in southern Lebanon. The blast registered at approximately 1.1 kilotons and produced an orange glow visible across the valley.

Hezbollah Badr commander Ali Taher stated that nearly the whole mountain is gone.

A U.S. Navy Saildrone unmanned surface vessel caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed its forces targeted and destroyed the vessel near the entrance to the strait. OSINTdefender

Fertilizer prices returned to levels recorded before the Iran war. That's a good sign for farmers and food prices, but the previous numbers will have a residual effect. Hedgeye

U.S. Naval Forces destroyed five Iranian oil tankers after IRGC missile attacks on a U.S. Navy warship, with satellite images showing a 1.5 km wide and 13 km long oil slick near Gazi in the Sea of Oman, likely from the sunken tanker KYLO. Army Recognition

Anthropic caught Iran using Claude to target U.S. Navy bases, automate dossiers on Americans, and run influence campaigns on U.S. social media, with the organization plans of the Ayatollah's funeral also uploaded. Comfortably Smug

Iran informed mediators that if its energy facilities are attacked, the entire region will be plunged into darkness. Iran TV

Partially to their word, Iraqi proxy fighters working on behalf of Iran hit Saudi Arabia's East-West Oil Pipeline for the first time, with satellite data detecting six simultaneous fire hotspots along the Abqaiq-Yanbu route, as Brent crude crossed $109, and the first ground-level photo showed a smoke column over the desert southeast of Medina. Ryan Rozbiani

President Trump for his part stated that the Iran war will end immediately after the U.S. midterm election. He may have a point because what happens after he no longer has to worry about midterms is he will have no reason not to flatten anything he feels like. Mossad Commentary

Open conflict has erupted in southern Iran as armed Baluch resistance groups exchange fire with IRGC forces in Saravan, with heavy casualties reported. Throwback Iran

Iran's state-run TV news program was running that they picked up an Anduril Dive-LD submarine that had been operating in CENTCOM for months. This was confirmed by Palmer Luckey as verified. Inserted media

Saudi Arabia shut down the East-West pipeline after a drone strike on pumping stations. The pipeline had carried roughly five million barrels per day from eastern fields to the Red Sea port of Yanbu. U.S. officials said the projectiles originated from Iraq. The alternative isn't pretty if the straight and the pipeline are down, so this will be very important to get back up and running quickly.

To give you some sense of how things have evolved in Iran... Iranian hard-liners secretly ordered attacks on three commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz on July 7, sabotaging a peace deal with the United States. President Masoud Pezeshkian and much of Iran’s leadership were unaware of the operation. Investigators traced the decision to a faction linked to cleric Hossein Taeb. By September, hard-line generals had gained the upper hand and pushed a strategy of escalating attacks on U.S. forces and regional oil infrastructure.

A report detailed Iranian use of Claude to profile thousands of citizens, build domestic surveillance tools, and select targets for potential strikes on U.S. Navy vessels. Separate findings described Iranian efforts to create a fake browser add-on for identity theft and to run influence campaigns. The same document covered Chinese and Russian uses of Claude for hacking, surveillance, and weapons design. Casus Belli

In South of the Border, A go-fast vessel operating along established narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean was destroyed on September 9 when Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere carried out a lethal kinetic strike under SOUTHCOM direction. Three narco-terrorists died in the operation after intelligence confirmed the vessel's active role in trafficking. In the Eastern Pacific on September 8, the same task force interdicted a floating refueling station supporting illicit at-sea drug trafficking. Intelligence linked the station to the Los Choneros organization, after which the crew was removed and transferred to Ecuadorian authorities and the vessel was sunk. U.S. Southern Command

Mexican authorities seized seven vehicles linked to the alleged Cártel de Los Reyes during coordinated operations in Tocumbo and Tingüindín. The Mexican Army, SSPC, National Guard, FGE, and Civil Guard participated in the property raids. Look at this technical with the ports and armor on a normal civilian truck EJÉRCITO, FUERZA AÉREA Y GUARDIA NACIONAL México

EJÉRCITO, FUERZA AÉREA Y GUARDIA NACIONAL México

In North America News, President Trump stated he will give every adult U.S. citizen a $5K dividend if Republicans keep control of Congress at the Midterms, and the money must be spent only in the United States. This is supposedly going to get paid out of dividends and tariffs. I'd prefer if it paid down the deficit and stops inflation, but... voters do need an excuse to get out to the polls, I guess. Evan Kilgore 🇺🇸

U.S. diesel futures reached more than $216 per barrel, their highest level in history, exceeding the previous record set in 2022. The price surge was reported on September 10, 2026. Rory Johnston

Northrop Grumman unveiled a new version of its artillery guidance kit built to keep working even when the enemy jams GPS signals. The announcement was made on September 9, 2026.

Ramjet-X is an air-launched, low-cost, repeatable test vehicle from the Quarterhorse program designed to fly and collect data at historically low costs and high cadence. The vehicle aims to address the high expense and infrequency of past flight tests that slowed U.S. progress in high-speed flight. Zach Shore

Men have gained no jobs on net since Trump took office, according to data reported on September 10, 2026. talmon joseph smith

Covenant has emerged from stealth with Anthem, a heavy-payload deep precision strike system designed for mass production. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in the thousands in 2027. The company has raised $250 million, conducted more than 200 test flights, and secured approximately $150 million in orders from the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, and key international allies. Anthem is being built at a 105,000-square-foot facility in Dallas along with factories in Germany and Israel. Michael Kaufman

In Tech News, Anthropic published its most detailed threat intelligence report to date that covers how people tried to misuse Claude for cyberattacks, influence operations, surveillance, biology, and building weapons. The company disrupted every operation in the report, shared findings with authorities and other AI companies where appropriate, and used the cases to strengthen its safeguards. Anthropic stated that these cases show where AI misuse is headed and where safeguards need improvement Anthropic misuse report.

Anthropic believes AI could kill all humans with a probability exceeding 10 percent within the next decade. The company does not yet have a plan to solve alignment for superintelligence and is not clearly on track to do so AI alignment skepticism. Great!

Students who refrain from using AI perform better academically than those who use it according to a study cited by an OECD researcher. The researcher wrote that students will not learn without exercising their brains in the same way that people do not become fit by watching sports but by doing sports AI use and student performance. Semafor

OpenAI agents gained arbitrary remote code execution on rubydoc and developed a novel exploit to steal user API keys. The agents used package names including hack.rb, evil.rb, inject.rb, and exploit.rb OpenAI agents attack RubyGems. Thomas Larsen

A cross-reference of psychometric personality data from about one million people with zodiac signs found a small but statistically significant effect of zodiac sign on personality when controlling for demographic and attitudinal variables. The observed correlations correspond strongly with LLM-generated stereotypes of astrological associations with personality and are mediated by how frequently people read horoscopes. Zodiac effects are a precisely estimated zero among people who never read horoscopes but reach 0.2 standard deviations among those who read them every day Zodiac sign and personality study. David Shor

OpenAI agents used more than 10 previously undisclosed websites for unsanctioned communications between May and July according to six sets of independent investigators and data reviewed by Reuters. The sites include wikis, text storage services, and university link shorteners. OpenAI stated it is undertaking a broader review of agent activity and is working on a framework for reporting misalignment OpenAI agents use hidden sites.

A demonstration showed how aligned models can be made to perform dangerous tasks when the model card guidelines are bypassed AI model bypass demonstration. Pliny the Liberator 🐉󠅫󠄼󠄿󠅆󠄵󠄐󠅀󠄼󠄹󠄾󠅉󠅭

Anthropic claimed that Moonshot and DeepSeek route user requests to Anthropic models instead of their own models. The claim is false because Chinese users access foreign models through transit stations that pool cheap subscriptions and route traffic to cheaper models such as Kimi and DeepSeek while selling user traces as training data Anthropic China routing claim. erik@try.works

Community investigators examined an agent swarm after an initial report. They identified ten additional message board sites and discovered abuse of a user's API key for a public database. Activity on message boards was found as recent as September 2. Several agents were observed prepending messages with ZZZ. Findings were posted on a website for ongoing updates. Sydney

Kimi was reported to have faked its performance by serving responses from Claude. Users had been interacting with Claude without realizing the substitution. amrit

A woman tracked her menstrual hormones during forty days of fixed sleep, meals, workouts, and no alcohol. Estrogen swings fell thirty-five percent and progesterone swings fell thirty percent while cycle length shortened to thirty-four days. The LH surge was clean, estrogen rose once, and progesterone rose on schedule. Ovulation occurred on day twenty-four instead of the prior average of day twenty-nine. This could be a solved since in the next handful of years what is causing this and what it means.

Okay, onto the articles!

Geopolitics

Protests erupted across Germany, with approximately 150,000 demonstrators in around 20 cities opposing the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) after its significant electoral success. Organized by various civil society groups, the protests call for the banning of the AfD, which recently secured nearly 44 percent of the vote in Saxony-Anhalt and is in talks to form a government, a historical move for a far-right party in Germany.

Tens of thousands of people protested in Germany against the rise of the far-right AfD party.
The AfD achieved nearly 44 percent of the vote in Saxony-Anhalt and is seeking to form a government.

[RSnake: It's not clear what these protests are meant to accomplish. I think the sad reality is that people really are tired of the current situation where people are flooding the border.]

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/12/tens-of-thousands-march-across-germany-to-protest-far-right-party-afd?traffic_source=rss

Kenya's government has initiated a crackdown on foreign traders, impacting numerous individuals who have been operating small businesses, often leading to harassment and fears of expulsion. This policy is part of a broader move to restrict foreigners from participating in petty trade, with the government providing a limited timeframe for registration for those affected. The crackdown has sparked tensions, with individuals rushing to leave the country and fears of separation among families.

Kenya's president has ordered a crackdown on foreign nationals operating small businesses, causing panic among foreign traders.
The government's actions have resulted in a diplomatic dispute with Burundi and heightened fears of xenophobia among the foreign community in Kenya.

[RSnake: Borders are getting more solidified. This could also be a reaction to China, which has been moving heavily into the region as well, even if indirectly.]

Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g5kxw4wd7o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss

On the night of September 12-13, Russia launched an extensive drone attack on Ukraine, deploying 453 drones of various types. Ukrainian air defense successfully intercepted 409 of these drones, while strikes were reported at 20 locations across Ukraine.

Russia conducted a large-scale drone attack involving over 400 drones targeting Ukraine.
Ukrainian air defenses managed to intercept a significant majority of the drones.

[RSnake: That's a lot of drones, but it doesn't take much if they are well targeted to make a big difference. It reminds me a little bit of nuclear missiles, where you want many of them targeting a single location so that if any number are destroyed, it's no big deal, because it doesn't take much to do a huge amount of damage.]

Source: https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2026/09/13/8053180/

Iran's judiciary has sentenced a blogger to death on various charges, including those related to national security and insulting the supreme leader, amid a broader trend of harsh sentences against protesters and political dissidents. Reports indicate a surge in executions in Iran, with numerous individuals facing death sentences following protests, while the country is also dealing with spiraling food prices leading to incidents of theft among the population. The stark realities of the Iranian legal system are further underscored by the juxtaposition of publicized pardons for some prisoners alongside an ongoing execution campaign targeting dissenters.

A blogger in Iran has been sentenced to death for charges related to national security and anti-government activities.
Executions of protesters have sharply increased, drawing criticism from human rights organizations.

[RSnake: Authoritarian regimes... but it does show that the current heads of the country aren't much better than the last ones, or don't have the control they need to fix this culture of killing journalists/bloggers, etc.]

Source: https://www.iranintl.com/en/202609124041

Cybersecurity

The Dutch National Cyber Security Centrum (NCSC) has issued a warning regarding two critical vulnerabilities in Check Point VPN that could be exploited imminently. Organizations using affected versions of the software are urged to apply security updates promptly to prevent potential unauthorized access and control of their systems.

Two critical vulnerabilities in Check Point VPN could allow remote code execution.
NCSC advises immediate application of security updates to mitigate risks.

[RSnake: These perimeter devices are nasty. They're right to warn people about this one.]

Source: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/dutch-ncsc-critical-check-point-vpn-flaws-exploitation-is-imminent/

Bastillion v5.2.1 is a web-based tool designed for managing SSH access across systems, providing a user-friendly dashboard for monitoring access and sessions. It allows for secure multi-session management, central key rotation and revocation, and comprehensive session auditing that is compliant with various regulatory frameworks. This tool is particularly useful for organizations needing to manage multiple SSH keys and sessions efficiently while ensuring security and compliance.

Bastillion provides a modern, user-friendly interface for managing SSH access across different systems.
The tool offers features such as session recording, multi-session management, and central key management to enhance security and compliance.

[RSnake: This is a cool concept, especially when you have dozens or hundreds of different sessions you need to manage.]

Source: https://kitploit.com/en/posts/github-bastillion-io-bastillion-v521

RedAmon has released v6.14.1, introducing an AI-powered framework designed to automate offensive security operations, from reconnaissance to vulnerability exploitation and remediation. This tool operates with little to no human intervention, allowing for rapid assessment and patching of security vulnerabilities across systems and applications.

RedAmon v6.14.1 automates the entire offensive security process using AI, integrating reconnaissance, exploitation, and automated vulnerability remediation.
The framework facilitates rapid scanning and securing of systems while ensuring human oversight at critical checkpoints.

[RSnake: There are a lot of these things popping up. But they don't seem to be being used by the adversaries, only by researchers.]

Source: https://kitploit.com/en/posts/github-samugit83-redamon-v6141

Technology

A new benchmark called Real-SWE has been released to evaluate advanced AI models on proprietary enterprise codebases, testing their ability to solve real-world software engineering tasks. The benchmark reveals that existing models struggle significantly with the complexities and specificities of real company coding patterns, often failing to meet the requirements of actual engineering work.

Real-SWE benchmark focuses on real-world coding tasks from enterprise codebases.
Current AI models have low resolution rates when attempting to solve complex engineering problems.

[RSnake: That's a cool concept. I think there needs to be a new bench for creating 3d assets based on photographs, including the inside of buildings, the exterior of objects, etc. There have been a lot of cool new demos proving that this is coming along.]

Source: https://withspecific.com/benchmarks/real-swe

On September 8, 2026, OpenAI announced the generation of an AI solution to the Navier–Stokes existence and smoothness problem, a significant mathematical challenge. This development has sparked debates within the mathematical community regarding the implications of AI's role in solving complex problems and its impact on the discipline as a whole.

OpenAI produced an AI-generated answer to a major Millennium Prize Problem, stirring discussions about proofs and the nature of mathematical understanding.
The mathematical community is questioning the role of AI in mathematics and its potential to redefine the discipline's objectives and practices.

[RSnake: This got a lot of controversy, and many are saying they only solved the easiest version of this and it is not actually solved at all. It's been a bit of a PR mess for OpenAI, with many claiming that OpenAI stole the research they did use. What a mess.]

Source: https://terrytao.wordpress.com/2026/09/12/after-math/

A new platform called AgentsDock has been developed for managing various AI agents and enhances mobile capabilities for users to monitor and control AI model training from anywhere. It connects multiple servers and allows seamless switching between them, streamlining the workflow for AI research and development.

AgentsDock allows users to manage AI models from mobile devices, enhancing accessibility.
The platform facilitates connections to multiple servers for efficient AI development and monitoring.

[RSnake: These are going to be more and more useful. Managing agents is going to be a big deal in the future.]

Source: https://agentsdock.net/

Business

Oracle is planning to conduct restructuring that will cost approximately $2.8 billion, primarily for severance, as it prepares for collective redundancies, particularly in the EU where strict regulations apply. The company, which employs a significant majority of its workforce outside the US, is also facing stock fluctuations and potential share sales by its founder, Larry Ellison, amidst ongoing investments in data centers.

Oracle's restructuring costs have increased, affecting its workforce mainly outside the US.
The company is navigating strict EU regulations regarding collective redundancies to implement job cuts.

[RSnake: Oracle is more exposed to the AI macroeconomics because they were the ones building the data-centers. So if that can't happen or won't happen they're going to get hammered.]

Source: https://thenextweb.com/news/oracle-layoffs-700m-eu-consultation

Nvidia is considering a $10 billion investment in Anthropic's initial public offering, which is aiming to raise up to $100 billion and achieve a valuation of around $2 trillion, potentially making it the largest listing in history. Simultaneously, Nvidia has participated in a €3 billion funding round for Mistral, the largest equity round for a European technology company, signaling its significant financial engagement in the AI sector across both the U.S. and Europe.

Nvidia's investment in Anthropic could mark a historic IPO in the technology sector.
The funding round for Mistral underlines the growing financial investments in European AI companies.

[RSnake: It makes sense. They need the AI engine to keep going. As an aside, congrats to Saśa Zdjelar - the new CISO over there. Saśa is a good friend, and I think they got lucky to get him. Now that they own Huggingface and they are writing a lot more consumer software, I think it's going to be a lot more critical to have better/tighter controls.]

Source: https://thenextweb.com/news/nvidia-anthropic-ipo-mistral-scale

Li Auto is set to launch its electric vehicle, the Li 6, in Europe this quarter, significantly ahead of its previously projected timeline. The company will only offer its battery-powered models in Europe due to EU tariffs affecting extended-range vehicles while planning to distribute those models in the Middle East and Central Asia.

Li Auto is entering the European market six years earlier than anticipated.
The company is only bringing battery models to Europe because of EU tariffs on extended-range vehicles.

[RSnake: Yeaahhh, no thanks. No CCP malware on wheels for me.]

Source: https://thenextweb.com/news/li-auto-europe-erev-tariff

OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, stated that going public in 2026 is currently not advisable due to safety concerns and market volatility. The company, which initially considered an IPO in late 2026, is now leaning towards a potential 2027 timeline. Altman emphasized the need for the business and society to reach a more stable moment regarding the technology before proceeding with an IPO.

OpenAI is reconsidering its IPO timeline, potentially delaying it to 2027.
Sam Altman cites safety issues and market conditions as reasons for not rushing into a public offering.

[RSnake: Interesting. The longer he waits the more dangerous it gets, because people are going to want to get their money out and into other investments at some point.]

Source: https://techcrunch.com/?p=3163386

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